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New challanger hellcat very unstable and dangerous

21K views 77 replies 50 participants last post by  Big Swede 
#1 ·
Just purchased my new 6 speed hellcat. I noticed that on the freeway or around town the front end/steering seems very light. If going around a corner and hit a bump or broken pavement the front end will skip or move around. It feels unsteady and dangerous. I almost hit another car next to me when I hit a bump and the car skipped pretty bad to the right. I was only going 50mph. It seems like the car has tons of bump steer. My air pressure is 32 cold running oem all season.

Anyone havery this problem?
 
#4 ·
Nope I have an A8

Just take your time to get use to your HC.

I have a 2010 auto Furious Fuchsia srt8 challenger, it just takes time to get use to how best to handle it!
Just take your time......it's not a Mustang!.....all the 707HP eventually you will love!

Linda:)
 
#5 ·
Just purchased my new 6 speed hellcat. I noticed that on the freeway or around town the front end/steering seems very light. If going around a corner and hit a bump or broken pavement the front end will skip or move around. It feels unsteady and dangerous. I almost hit another car next to me when I hit a bump and the car skipped pretty bad to the right. I was only going 50mph. It seems like the car has tons of bump steer. My air pressure is 32 cold running oem all season.

Anyone havery this problem?
On which setting did you have the suspension?
I rarely would use the race or even sport setting on a regular road just for that exact reason.
It's simply too hard for uneven, bumpy roads.

If it does seem very bad even on street mode then have the SRT tech check everything through just to be sure.

Do keep in mind though that the Hellcat is front heavy and you will always feel it.
What you describe seems out of the normal though.
 
#6 ·
The car is new with less than 200 miles on as of now. Leased it with 10 miles on it. No suspension mods at all. Lug nuts are tight 120lbs.

I have owned many many cars and this is definitely not normal or getting used too. The car does pull to the right so it needs alignment.

This is really worst in the street setting. It does happen in sport setting also but it is controlled little better and on track is even better than sport but still there. Even on street setting this is unacceptable.

Now I have to waste my time at the dealer just to get a "is normal " answer from the techs.


I narrowed down to bad alignment toe setting and the crappy all season super brick hard tires. Now I have to drop $700 for tires on a new car.
 
#16 ·
Yes I was going to say it sounds like an alignment issue - a very serious alignment issue if you feel any lightness or skipping around. My 2016 with 3,000+ miles feels solid, tight, precise. I feel like once I take a line the car is on a rail. Besides alignment I am thinking it could be a loose suspension component. For example, besides having a leaking cv joint boot, I also discovered the rear sway bar was missing the that secures it to the chassis on the right side.

This is not something you want to drive on, it could get worse. Good luck.

My car was delivered with 55psi in the tires and I had to air them down, check that.
Mine too, and several others here on the forum. However, the OP did say that he was running 32 PSI cold.
 
#7 ·
So just something to look at. My everyday car/winter rat is a 2001 Pontiac Bonneville and it exibited the exact same symptoms as you described at two different times. One was the front sway bar bushings were bad and ripped out. This causes the car to steer as if it was being pushed from the front fender if that makes sense. The other was when one or both rear shocks were bad and "blown out". This actually causes the rear end to jump around but makes it difficult to steer and almost feels like the front end has an issue. I know this is not a 700HP vehicle, but I can tell you my HC Challenger does not feel or do what you are describing. I have taken some descent turns at what I would call higher than reasonable speed for the road I was on, and the car definitely handles them awesomely. Your car sure sounds like it has an issue that needs to be fixed, just needs to be identified.
 
#9 ·
Maybe they curbed it or disturbed the alignment during transport.
 
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#11 · (Edited)
That's what I am thinking.


I also,work on cars on the weekends and I know good amount about cars. This is defiantly not normal. I had my buddy that owns a 2005 srt4 with almost 200k on it drove the hc and he was shocked how poorly and dangerous it was on uneven roads. My steering wheel shakes really bad while getting up to speed over bumpy roads. Don't know just have to take it to,the dealer. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
#13 ·
definitely does not sound normal. even in track mode, i can definitely feel the stiffer suspension but in no way do i feel as if the car is uncontrollable, let alone throw me into a different lane.

this definitely sounds like there is something wrong with the car and should be a dealership issue under warranty.
 
#65 ·
I was just going to say check your tire pressure.

Years ago I drove a buddie's 1500 Suburban on the power tour as a support vehicle. He had new tires put on the day before. It was the first time I drove the truck but on the way to the highway the truck was literally ALL over the road. I would hit a bump and couldn't even control it. I radio's him (back when cell phones were a novelty and service was non existent) that I had to pull over. I check the tires and the kid a the tire shop had them all set to 80PSI!!! Aired them down to 35 and all was well. I was relieved because it was downright dangerous driving it as it was.
 
#15 · (Edited)
My first thought was that the air pressure was still set to the shipping air pressure - but the OP addressed that issue by confirming the normal air 32 psi pressure. For some reason, they are shipped at max tire pressure... the dealer delivered my car with all four tires at 47 psi, which definitely had a lighter steering feel and, of course, a much rougher ride.

What struck me was the light steering feel described by the OP. That is the absolute opposite of the way my Hellcat drives. The steering feel is very heavy... Deliberately so, as far as I can tell. Definitely different than the 2010 SRT8 that I owned previously (which had much lighter/quicker steering). This makes the Hellcat feel bigger/heavier than it is at slow speeds... and incredibly controllable/smooth/stable at speed.

I tackled my favorite curvy canyon road today, since the sun was out. Turning a five-mile trip to the store into a 20-mile adrenaline rush. The steering feel is kind of numb.. or maybe dampened is a better description... but the result is smooth and fast. (My car still has the OEM Pirelli all season tires.)

It definitely sounds like a check for any loose parts, alignment, etc., is in order. There could even be an issue with the power steering.

I can definitely identify with how unnerving it is for a vehicle to move around unexpectedly. The 2002 Dodge Ram Sport pickup that I used to own would juke sideways a bit when it encountered diagonal expansion joints on the freeway. Those were some of the first 20 inch wheels on trucks and I don't think Dodge had everything figured out.

I'd definitely take it back to the Dealership for a checkup, without delay.
 
#19 ·
OP - you say you partially attribute the problem to the all season OEM tires. I have a set of both OEM summer and all season tires. While the all season do not handle as well as the summer tires (in warm weather) the all season tires do not cause the car to be unstable and jump/slide around. You have some other serious suspension misalignment or problem.
 
#21 ·
Just purchased my new 6 speed hellcat. I noticed that on the freeway or around town the front end/steering seems very light. If going around a corner and hit a bump or broken pavement the front end will skip or move around. It feels unsteady and dangerous. I almost hit another car next to me when I hit a bump and the car skipped pretty bad to the right. I was only going 50mph. It seems like the car has tons of bump steer. My air pressure is 32 cold running oem all season.

Anyone havery this problem?
Sounds like it just needs an alignment inspection.

Also a visual inspection of the tie rods.
 
#23 ·
I know what you are talking about. My M6 was doing this on the freeway, I had a moment of freaking out and thought my lug nuts were loose. I finally realized there were ruts in the lane causing my car to have that unsteady light feeling. I also realized I had changed it to street mode suspension and I prefer it a bit stiffer on the freeway so I changed it back to Sport. It could be something more serious, but I had something similar and it was just the road. I hope you work it out.
 
#25 ·
I know I have a Charger but my daily is a 2500 Ram...If you wanna have a talk about useless steering input lol.

But I find my HC to be like a go kart in any mode. But I normally drive it in sport mode, or my custom mode which is all track with street traction. I have yet to experience the front bounce around like that, but I do know what you mean from my 240sx days of riding low on stiff coilovers.

I would say a dealer trip isn't a total lost cause as I would be uncomfortable if my front end wasn't hooking up.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
#26 ·
Droped the car off to the dealer and had a srt tech go for a ride with me in the car. He noticed that the car had bad alignment and it was very jumpy and nervous. He drove the car on the alignment rack to check the suspension components. After 5 min he came up to me and said did you worked on the car yourself or had anyone work on it? I said no the car is freaking brand new with 250 miles on it and when I bought it it had 10 miles. Well long story short I followed him under the car and he pointed out that the front sway bar and end links are completely missing. So yeah problem found. How the sway bar and endlinks disappeared is a mystery. Service manager took a picture and they are waiting on approval from fca.
 
#33 ·
Bet a tech @ the dealer took them off to do some PD on another car & just never put them back on !
I know when they were working on the vibrations in my Mustang, they swapped driveshafts with several cars on the lot trying to determine if that was the culprit !

Technically, they are not suppose to use the lot cars as a parts source, but it happens !
 
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